26 Answers

Yes I think they should be allowed to drive, as long as they pass the required tests.I have more faith in an elderly experienced driver than the young 16 to 20 year old louts that are on the roads.

Yes I think they schould be allowed to drive. They drive slower than most people and  dont cause accidents from texting or cellphone.

I think everybody should be retested, written as well as actually driving, every few years. A pain I know but, this could save lives............

The driving privilege should based on a comprehensive test  (to include mental stability/maturity) not age - too young or too old...

From the age of 50 we bus drivers must take an extremely tough test every 5 years but if you are 90 or even 111 no further test for a car driving license is required. Something wrong there don't you think ? 

Any competent person  ,without vision or health problems should be CONSIDERED for a licence . Competent means ;road test reaction times ,blood pressure checks , vision tests and general health checks .  If there are no legal or health issues then my vote is yes . When you can no longer pass the road test and physical then my vote is NO . After a certain point having elderly behind the wheel makes no sense . Danger to self and others comes to mind .                     Bill

AGE. Has nothing to do with it Road Sense does.I think.

There are no driving tests for the elderly here unless their licence has been suspended or cancelled for some reason.Your are however required to renew your licence more frequently which involves an eyesight test. I don't think age should be a restriction on your ability to hold a licence.I know a lot of younger people think the elderly should get off the road,but I wonder how they will feel about it when they are older & are facing losing this privelidge.

If you are safe it should be ok to drive at any age, but we had a young girl killed in the local town recently by a 90 year old who mounted the pavement, he had already  crashed his car a few days before at a petrol station, the police had no powers to stop him driving, if they had the young girl would still be alive. So I think the law in the UK needs changing, maybe you should have a retest when you get to a certain age, but I do think the police should be able to stop someone from driving in a case like that.

The trouble with getting old is some revert back to the bad habits of some of the young, Dangerous.

I think after the age of 65 everyone should be tested for thier driving skills. Young and old are the two age groups that have the most dangerous accidents.

Sure, as long as they can do it safely, and have established that through testing. I only say that, as we all age differently, and that affects how safely a person would be able to operate a vehicle. No different than the concept of testing someone for the first time, its all about function.

Seriously, there was a 94 yr-old in the news. He was legally blind and would drive with his wife next to him. She would tell him what to do!

Yes as long as they pass a drivers test .What do mean by elderly. How old?

"Elderly" is wide open for interpretation.  A 12 year old thinks 30 is ancient.  A 90 year old may think of a 65 year old as a young whippersnapper.  
Honestly, if someone wants to drive, be they 9 or 90, if there is a vehicle available, it will be driven. 
 

They should be able to drive if they meet the requirements .

I have no comment on this issue, for I am 66 and driving is not a problem as long as you stay healthy and keep on rolling,so that you can stay alert when driving in heavy traffic.people that drive maybe once or twice a year that could be a problem.

How old is elderly? Its a matter of opinion. If you go around the round about in a different direction from the flow of traffic, then you cannot obviously be allowed to drive because you cause an obstruction to other drivers. If your faculties are good, then go for it. And I am against tests because even though your eye sight may be failing, your senses are more alert to compensate for the loss and I have seen some pretty good drivers in their 70's and 80's who may be just slower than the rest, so avoid roads with speed limits = over 100 and stick to regular road, but who do fail the tests, which I think is totally unfair. The only tests that I would think are essential are heart and reflexes. If you have a heart attack at the wheel, it is chaos to everyone else, but that can happen to a 28-40 year old. Just make sure you that you are physically capable or handling a vehicle, and not suffering from alzeihmers or other delusionary  diseases which make you feel over confident :).

Define elderly.

This STORY may help you;

I've only known one elderly person in my life. He didn't get his license until he was 65. After he passed his driver's test he drove directly to his old high school where he waved and honked at all the girls walking by! He then cranked up his stereo which played that god-awful Jimmy Dorsey music!

That dude seemed to think he was the only one on the road that day, I just don't understand why parents don't take a more active role in the lives of their sons and daughters. Don't they know that they are putting people in danger with all that reckless, slow driving?

Why should they care if they might hit someone in a cross-walk? What about all of us normal speeders? Are we just supposed to wait for everyone as they yield them the 'right of way'?

If we allow them to continue without stereotyping the whole lot of 'em as 'unsafe drivers' we might have to spend those brief moments between text-messaging and phone calls actually seeing what's going on in the middle of the street!

What ever happened to the promotion of  fear and self-absorption? Am I blind or something?

;) I love you Grandma!

Why not.......if they're good drivers, and they're in their right mind.......and don't have any vision problems. They have better driving records than most teenage boys and young men.They have a lot of experience, and know how to watch out for the other drivers.My mom drove till she was 86, and didn't have any problems. Ditto for my dad. He was driving at 76, then he died of the big one. No, he wasn't driving when he died.

Those who are younger have far more accidents than old people. It's not often you hear about old people having many accidents

Absolutely not. On their way to the senior's early bird 4:00pm restaurant dinner special, they should cram into a taxicab and split the fare.

Great question!  Only if someone is able to see and hear clearly enough and aren't on to much medication that may effect their motor skills. I've had several near death experiences with elderly drivers living in S. Florida and honestly when you reach a certain age they should be tested more frequently.

Here's one of the many stories. I was at a stoplight and a elderly lady, probably about 90 something rear ended the car next to me. Not only once, take in mind we were at a red light. She rear ended this guy four times and didn't stop until he got out of the car and knocked on her window. She was so out of it she couldn't figure out why she wasn't going anywhere!!!!!!!!!! Crazy...

At what age are you going to call elderly,and keep in mind,more people under 50 die on our roads than people over 50,,so i guess we should stop people under 50 from driving ...oops i guess that would never do,oh well happy crashing..>>>>>>>><<<<<<<..

A man almost hit my car last week. I blew my horn at him but he did not hear it.  I jumped out of my car and banged on his window.  He back door was unlocked and I opened the door and said, "Sure don't hit me."  His wife opened the front door grabed me hunged me and kissed me on my face and said, "Thank You So Much?"   "We are now going straight home."  Both wave at me and smiled.  I think a time comes for us all to say enough.  But who is to tell us when that time come?